Current-motor.



Patented Jan. 7, 1919. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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E. SPURGEON. CURRENT MOTOR. APPLICATION FILED JULY 19, I916- RENEWED MAY l5, l9l8.

' IPateIIneCI Jan. .7, 1919.

4 SHEET T 2- E. SPURGEON.

CURRENT MOTOR. APPLICATION man JULY 19. l9I6. RENEWED MAY J5, 1918.

1,296,391. Patented Jan.7,1919.

\( 4 SHEETS *SHEET 3.

71, Zai 7 25 My Sum/ s E. SPURGEON. CURRENT MOTOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY l9|' l9l6. RENEWED MAY 15,1918. 1,290,391.

Patented J an. 7, 1919.

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ms nwuu! nuns ea. "mum" i arrangement of the water wheel within th To all tbhom it concern:

FED srnrrns PATENT OFFICE. h

EDWARD srunenou, or PLUMMEB, IDAHO.

f ounnnn'r-moron.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan, *7, 1919 Application filed. July 19, 1916, Serial No. 110,253. I Renewed May 15, 1918. Serial No. 234,780.

Be it known that I, EDWARD Srunonou, a citizen of the United States, residing at Plummer, in the county of.Benewah and State of Idaho, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Current-Motors,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to animproved current motor and. has as its primary object toprovide a device of this character which may be readily installed in a stream or river and adapted to derivea .maximum power therefrom which maybe utilized for com mercial purposes.

The invention has as a further object to provide a device of this character employing a water wheel or current driven element which may be vertically adjusted with the rise and fall of the stream. I

. And the invention has as a still further object to provide a device of this. charac-. ter employing an improved arrangement for transmitting the. power from the water wheel.-.;. I H c Other and incidental objects will appear as the description proceeds and in the drawseveral views,

ings wherein I have illustrated the pre v ferred embodiment of the invention and wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the Figure 1 is a side elevation of my im-. proved current motor particularly showing the mounting ofthe water wheel,

Fig. 2 is a front elevation showing the supporting frame therefor, r .Fig. 3 is a top plan view particularly illustrating the winding drum for adjustably elevating the water wheel, p V

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view particularly showing the type of gear employed for transmitting, power from the water wheel aswellas the manner in which the supporting frame of the device is formed to adjustably receive the bearing blocks for the water wheel, r 1 j y Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the bearing blocks of the water wheel and the bracketor shipper arm carried thereby for engagement with the worm of the ver tical driving shaft of the device whereby the said worm will be adjustably lifted as the water wheel is lifted, 1 a 7 Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view on a slightly enlarged scale showing the adjustably mounted bearing for the upper end of the vertical driven shaft, a

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary, side elevation more particularly showing the construction of the supporting frame of the said beari1 1g. Fig. 8is a transverse sectional view illustrating the mounting of the bearing block employ:

a. supporting, frame includingspaced for;

ward and rear uprights 10 and 11 respec tively' arranged in substantially rectangular relation and connected at their upper ex: tremities, by crosspieces 12 and 13. The. cross piece 13 is disposed at the forward side of the frame and proiects at its extremitieslaterally. beyond the sides of the frame to-receive braces 14 extending between the ends of he said cross piece and the uprights 11. The uprights 10 and 11 are set within a suitahlebase and extending from the base to the upper extremities of the uprights 11 are braces 15. Mounted upon the base in inward spaced relation to the uprights 10. aresimilar uprights 16 ar-j ranged substantially parallel to the ups rights 10 and connected. at their upper extremities to the adiacent cross piece 12. Slidably mounted between the uprights 10, and 16 are bearing blocks 17 upon which is removablv iournaled a transverselv extendof the drawings, received by sleeves 21 removably fitted upon the shaft 18 adjacent opposite ends thereof. Connecting v the sleeves 21 with the-said shaft, are set screws 22'which, attheir inner extremities, are received within grooves in the shaft. Extending from the sleeves*-21,-areaplurality of radially projecting flanges 28 to which, are

bolted or otherwise secured, the spokes 20. It will be observed that the spokes 20 are arranged in rpairs and %-braces 24: extend between corresponding pairs ()llSp OkGS at .opposite sides of the drum. Mounted upon the :drum L9 isanannular series of paddles "or buckets 25 shown ,in detail in ,Fifg. illof drums iare cables 513 which, at their tlower extremities, c a .fattajched'to the hearing blocks 17 in the manner -most clearly shown in iEigo the d awings. Upo =-Q119 s de i the tsur'gportnglfralne is arranged post32 and jeurnaled between the said'p'osjt and th a jacen up ig s 1, of, the frame,

is I shaft 3 1 4112. 1 i hith is mounted a pro kj snda os ea whee1i 5- ixed thev ,adiacentge tr y c th dr m union 7,

shaft '29 is a (sprocket and rained. over the .said sprocket and, the sprocket 3451's a sprocket chain 37. ourn'aled upon'the contiguous upright 10 ofthefr'ame adjacent the toothed W' he'el3'5 is a crankv38 which carries a pinion '39 meshing with the said Wheel. A pawl 40 is "provided for holdingthe toothed wheel against retrograde movement, As will ,now beunderstood, the. crank 38 may be operated'to ,turn the. wheel 35 and Wind the cables 31 upon the drums 30vfor adjustably elevating the water wheel. In this connection, it should be stated that my improved "device is designed to .be erected within a streambrifriverdn such position that the current thereof will act upon the "water iwjheel' The b'ase for 'the "supporting frame pf the device may 'belsuit'ably "located in the bed o'fthe river or stream adjacent a bank j there'off if desired and if'jfound Ln'eces-.

sary, Wings may "berun from 'the iforward side of the supportingfframe upwardly and outwardlyinto the stream ,for directing the currentsfiow against'the water wheel and increasing the velocity thereof at the said the wa ter wheel since the said bucketsi-will v. present obstructions to vthe currents flow of such nature'that the current will effectually act against thesaidubuckets to turn the wheel.v

Fixed upon theouter end of the drum- 19.

is an annular face gear 451 having diamond shaped teeth 42 arranged for engagement th .a Worm 5L3 carriedby afvertlcal driven shaft 4 1. The worm 43;is splined upon the shaft 44 andis freely engaged by a shipper 111 101 bracket {i5 carried by the adjacent bearing block 317 of the shaft 16. oo s quently, when the blocks 17 are adjustably elevated, jor positioning the water wheel with respect vto the strean i, the worm 43 will be moved longitudinally upon the shaft {L4 to cotiperate with the face gear {$1.

The shaft 454: is, at its upper extremity, received by 11 adjustablebearing 46 shown in-detail'in Figs/6', 7 :and Bofthe drawings and is adjustably supported at itsilower extremity by a similar bearing i7 shownin detail in Fig. 9. The fbearing 46 includesa rectangular frame 48, the s'ides and e'nds of which are formed of anglememberssuitably connected at their extremities. :Gonnecting thesides of the frame with the uprights 10 and l'luponthe outer s'ide of thc main supporting frame of :the device, are bolts or other suitable fastening-devices 49 having the heads thereof projecting "into the bearing frame, "Slidahly mounted between the sides of the frame 48 isa "bearing block 50 having longitudinally extending grooves formed in opposite sides thereof to freely receive the heads of, the bolts '49 in the mannerbest shown in Fig'S-of the'drawings with the said bolt heads adapted tohold the block 50 against vertical movement. The block 50 rotatably receives the upper extremity of the shaft 4a and screw threaded into the ends of the block and adjustable upon the ends of "the frame 48' are .set screws "51. The bearing {47 includes a rec" tangular frame "52 also composed of angle members connected at their extremities.

This frame is rested upon "the base 'forthel device and slida'bly receives a'bearing'block 53. The*lower'extremity of the shaft 4:4 is suitably journaled in and supported by the block 53 and an oil cup 54-is connected to the "block for lubricating the bearing of the said shaft. Screw threaded into oppo site ends of the block 54 and adjustable through the ends of the frame 52 are set screws 55. The set screws 51 and 55 are arranged at right angles to the annular gear 41 upon the drum 19 of the water wheel and as will now be seen, by properly adjusting these set screws, the shaft 44 may be ositioned relative to the said gear for reguating the engagement between the worm 4:3 and the said gear.

Keyed or otherwise secured upon the lower extremity of the shaft 4% is a face gear 56 similar to the gear 41. The gear 56 is arranged to mesh with a worm 57 carried by a horizontal driven shaft 58. The shaft 58 is supported by a plurality of suitable bearings 59 mounted upon the base for the device and keyed or otherwise socured upon the said shaft, is a pulley or other suitable power transmitting device 60. As will now be seen in view of the previous description, the rotary movement of the water wheel will be communicated to the shaft 58 and a belt may be connected to the pulley 60 for transmitting the power from the said shaft to be used for commercial purposes. I thus provide a very effective arrangement for the purpose set forth and a construction which may be easily installed and operated at minimum cost.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: p

The combination ofa supporting frame comprising spaced parallel posts, bearing blocks slidably mounted between and engaging said posts, a shaft carried by said bearing blocks, a water wheel mounted on said shaft, means supported on the posts and connected with the bearing blocks for raising and lowering the same and the water wheel, atransmission shaft disposed vertically in the supporting frame adjacent the spaced posts at one side of the frame, an arm projecting from the bearing block at the said side 0 the frame, a gear fixed upon the adjacent end of the water wheel, a gear meshing with said gear on the wheel and splined upon the vertical transmission shaft and engaged by the said arm whereby said gear will follow the raising and lowering movement of the bearing blocks and remain in mesh with the gear on the water wheel and gearing operatively connected with the lower end of said shaft for transmitting the power derived from the water wheel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

EDWARD SPURGEON. 1 51.]

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0." 

